Letters

Nuclear and wind debate

To start with, how could the now-defunct Atlantic Array of 240 wind turbines, each over 700 foot high, proposed by RWE in the Bristol Channel some nine miles off the north Devon coast, be of any interest to Pembrokeshire people seeking jobs?

To start with the wind farm would have been German made, and no doubt Germans would service it.

No doubt its German manufacturer might employ Devon residents in the riskier aspects of maintenance, but there would be little job security in such dangerous work.

Secondly Mr Jessop complains that revenue guaranteed by the Government from the proposed EDF nuclear power station at Hinkley Point would be higher than for the Atlantic Array wind farm.

However I am assured by DECC that the “strike price”

offered to RWE for the Atlantic Array was £ 155/MWh i.e.

15.5p per unit of electricity produced. Whereas the strike price agreed for Hinkley is £ 92/MHh, or 9.2p per unit, which is a lot less than 15.5p.

The strike price is the guaranteed price for electricity produced, so where Mr Jessop gets the idea that nuclear and wind are not on the same playing field is a mystery.